Woman attacked after warning others of man fondling himself in public

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- A 35-year-old Washington woman says she was viciously attacked after warning others about a man who approached her asking for directions and fondling himself in a grocery store parking lot, according to KCPQ.

The woman says the attack might have been motivated by her effort to help others, warning them of a man who approached her asking for directions and then began fondling himself.

The victim, 35-year-old Amanda Edwards, says it started in a grocery store parking lot and ended on her walk home.

"Definitely wasn’t a fair fight," said Edwards, who choked up recalling the details.

Edwards was at Safeway to buy dinner for her three kids on Monday night. As she was leaving the store, a man pulled up in his car, fondling himself as he asked her for directions.

"You have to have a pretty crazy mind to go around and think that it’s OK to do something like that," said Edwards.

When she yelled at the driver to get lost, the man drove over to another mother and child walking across the parking lot.

Edwards tried to take a photo of his car while yelling at other customers to stay away. The man then drove away.

While Edwards was walking home, she was followed, grabbed from behind and beaten. She believes she might have been targeted because she tried to warn others about his behavior.

Edwards sustained four fractures in her face, including a crack down the roof of her mouth.

"The thought that I can’t walk out the door without feeling like this guy is somewhere around here--that hits so close to home," said Edwards.

"I’ve never had that fear in my life. I’ve never felt like I can’t walk and be free and protect myself," said Edwards. "I think that’s what bothers me the most is that I didn’t get a chance to get away."

And she wants to warn others before the man strikes again.

"He put time into following me and getting out of his car and running up on me and attacking me and I feel like if he got away with it, he would probably feel like he can do it again," said Edwards. "He was extremely aggressive and when he came up and he said ‘I got you’ and when he started laughing--it was one of the most evil laughs I’ve heard," Edwards described. "I mean to me he had a rapist mentality."

She describes the man as a Pacific Islander male in his 20s to 30s, with a slim but solid build and wearing a beanie. The vehicle was a 4-door white sedan, like possibly a Ford Focus, with extensive damage to the entire passenger side of the car.